How to undo the Fletcher Cove Community Center 'mess'

Letters to the editor on use of the community center in Solana Beach

Detailing ‘the mess’ at the community center

City staff members refer to the Fletcher Cove Community Center controversy as “the Mess. How did we get into this mess? Let’s recap:

June 2013. After two years of endless meetings, the rental of the center was placed on the agenda for the June 12 City Council meeting for final resolution. At the start of the meeting, two councilmen declared they sided with the neighbors and were against serving alcohol in the center. Nevertheless it appeared the council was verging on a compromise when a third councilman reversed field and announced he also was against any provision that allowed alcohol. In total gridlock, rather than table the item, the council decided not to take any action and subsequently announced the matter would not be brought back for discussion. This meant the center would not be rented for any function. Stunned, a group of citizens decided that since the council could not make a decision, they would submit the matter to the voters in the form of an initiative.

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July 2013. At the July 12 council meeting, Tom Golich, representing a group called the Friends of the FCCC, announced that as of that morning the Friends submitted the formal paperwork to circulate a petition. Mr. Golich submitted a copy of the petition that has provisions that special event permits shall be limited to no more than two weekend days, rental fees shall be nominal and that alcoholic beverage rules for beer and wine, noise restrictions and occupancy shall be per existing provisions of the municipal code. At that point the period of negotiation was closed since by law, no modifications can be made to the Initiative. In the first week of circulating petitions, over 1,000 signatures were obtained.

August 2013. In a special meeting Aug. 7, council members announced that despite previous statements they would review the issue again. Tom Golich urged the council to adopt the initiative rather than the measures they were considering. Nevertheless they proceeded to compile a list of provisions, including restricting events to two a month, restricting wine and beer to two glasses per person, stating cars should not be parked on neighboring streets, restricting the types of instruments that can be used in a band plus eight more restrictions. Council members announced their plan to incorporate these provisions into an ordinance at the next council meeting. This list provided a stark contrast to the initiative with its limited number of provisions. Subsequent to the meeting, petition circulators noted that the council now was willing to open the center for use for special events but with a dozen restrictions. The petition gatherers encountered no loss in enthusiasm for the initiative and gathered another 1,000 signatures. On Aug. 27 the petitions formally were submitted to the city clerk to be forwarded to the Registrar of Voters for signature verification. On Aug. 28, the council formally adopted into ordinance form, the dozen restrictions discussed at the Aug. 7 meeting.